


Narcissus and Echo

by Sly_Helador



Series: Sly's writing class [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fairy Tale Retellings, Gen, Little Mermaid Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-18
Updated: 2019-10-18
Packaged: 2020-12-22 20:30:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21082640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sly_Helador/pseuds/Sly_Helador
Summary: Echo is not a nymph but a siren that desires the soul of the famed Narcissus.





	Narcissus and Echo

A siren, who has lost her name to age and hatred, swims towards a path that she thinks will lead to power. She has spent many years singing and seducing young mermen to her side in order to steal their souls.

She was once the youngest and most beloved princess to a kingdom long gone. She spent her time perfecting her singing, the fuel of her magic, and learning of the powers that she could possess. The need for power took over her rational mind and lead her to ruin.

Her thirst for power leads her to the most infamous sea witch in a cave that most only hear in scary stories and warnings when they are young.

“What brings you to my cave little siren?” the sea witch asks at the lip of the cave.

“I grow tired of the souls of mermen. They no longer hold enough power for me to waste my time on them. I want legs to be able to steal the souls of man,” the siren demands.

The sea witch moves towards the back of the cave, slinking along at a strut all the while grabbing bits of baubles hanging from the walls and ceilings. Slowly her tentacles fill up with bits of random plants, body parts, and rocks. Then once they reach the end of the path she turns back and raises to tower over the siren.

“I can give you legs. I can give you lungs. What can you give me in return? What do you have that I could desire?”

The siren looks down at her scarred hands for a moment. The most valuable thing that she has in her possession would be her magic and the souls that she has collected.

“I could give you my magic for I have no need of it. My looks alone are enough to be able to seduce any man,” she says confidently setting her shoulders straight.

“Your looks alone you say? I can give you that,” the witch says with a smirk on her face. She lowers back down and flicks her hand. In front of the siren appears a parchment, a contract. “This contract will give you what you desire. However my stipulation will be that once you set sight on a man, you must have his soul in two days or you will turn into sea foam.”

“That will be easy I have no-” the witch cuts off the siren with: “One other thing that you need to give me. You say you only need your looks; well, I say prove it. You will only be able to say what is said to you. If you are as good as you say you are, then this should be no problem.”

“Done,” the siren replies immediately. She inks her finger and stamps it on the bottom of the page, then blacks out to the faint sound of cackling.

In a dark forest surrounding a small village, a man named Narcissus is out hunting at close to dusk. A deer that strayed from its herd walks towards a pond for a drink. Then in the blink of an eye, the deer falls to the ground dead with an arrow in its heart. Narcissus steps out from the brush to collect his kill when another stalks up to him.

“Who are you?” he demands of her.

“Who are you?” she replies back. The woman walks up to him, sizing him up. There must be something that she likes because she smirks and presses forward even more.

“I am Narcissus. I come from the village to the south. I am the best around here,” he says. He would never waste an opportunity to brag to someone new.

“I am the best around,” she says back to him.

“This is not possible for only I can be the best. I am the most beautiful person,” Narcissus says squinting his eyes at this woman. She is dressed unlike anything he usually sees around here and is more prideful than he is used to.

“I am the most beautiful person,” she repeats again crossing her arms, frustration showing on her face.

“I might be a gentleman but I must tell you the truth. Anyone is ugly compared to me.”

“Anyone is ugly compared to me.” At this, Narcissus grabs his kill and storms back to the village stomping the whole way.

Back at the village Narcissus is immediately surrounded by a hoard of people. They fawn over him and his new kill. He basks in this attention. All the way to his house he is followed by his fans and adorers. Then once he does arrive at the house, he announces his leave and shuts the door behind him.

Inside the house is sparse yet homey. There isn’t a lot of furniture and what is there is old and warm but it screams of home. Sitting on a bed sewing is his sister Ensynia.

“En I had the most bizarre conversation with a woman today. She said some awful things to me but she only repeated what I said. She must have been mocking me,” Narcissus says to his sister. She looks up at him confused.

“That’s weird. If she was only repeating what you were saying then you must also have been saying rude things to her,” En replies cordially.

“Well that’s not true. I’m only ever a gentleman to everyone I meet and talk to. She must be deranged.”

“I don’t know, you aren’t always the nicest to everyone. You can say-” Ensynia starts before she is cut off by Narcissus.

“No I know it must be true. I will go into the forest again tomorrow to see her and confirm it once more. Now I will go celebrate my kill with the people in this village that know how nice and gentlemanlike I am,” he announces and heads right back out the door. Ensynia’s eyes follow him out of sight then shakes her head. This small conversation was unusual for her. Narcissus has never had a problem with women before. Maybe an eye should be kept on more than just him.

The following evening Narcissus is out hunting near that pond again. There aren’t any deer or rabbits near tonight but the chance to see that woman again is too tempting. And there, with her hand in the pond is the repeating woman. Narcissus deliberately makes a noise against a tree to call her attention. She looks up from what she is doing to smile at him.

“I’ve been wanting to see you,” he tells her.

“I’ve been wanting to see you,” she replies back. She beckons him towards her and to the pond. Her hand waves over it one more time and she looks to him with her eyes half-lidded but shining.

“You are the most beautiful person I have seen other than myself,” he tells her once he gets close. At that her body tenses for a brief moment, then relaxes. She reaches up to him and pulls him down to kneel at the edge of the shimmering pond. For being a small pond its water choppy and restless.

“You are the most beautiful person I have seen other than myself,” she says. Then she captures his attention with her hand once again and motions to the water. The top instantly clears and sits motionless. The sun beating off of it almost glows from the twilight. All other senses seem to stop when he looks towards the water.

Then from woods runs Ensynia at a sprint. She stops just steps away from the pond, fear written all over her face and body tense as a board. Her hand juts out to beckon him to her instead.

“Narcissus stop! Can you not see that she is enchanting you and the water? You must walk away now,” she pleads to him.

“Now!” pushes the woman at his side. She points to the water.

“Narcissus you are more than your beauty. You do not need this woman just because she is mysterious and intriguing. If you look in that water I fear you will never look away,” 

The woman pulls at Narcissus’s arm and points once more at the water next to them. Her insistence and Ensynia’s worry is what causes him to pull away from the foreign woman and to take the hand stretched to him. The woman tries to pull at Narcissus but she does not have the strength to make him budge. He pushes her arm away and makes her fall back into the pool. 

The last of the light from the falling sun disappears from sight and at that moment the woman dissolves into sea foam. After a moment it is picked up by the wind and drifts into the air past anything their eyes can make out. 

**Author's Note:**

> The first 'scene' of this one is some of the best writing I think I've done.


End file.
